VANCOUVER – Despite a valiant comeback in the second half of Saturday’s game, the UBC Thunderbirds men’s basketball team dropped a 78-72 decision against the Mount Royal Cougars in Calgary.
UBC’s Kedar Wright led all scoring with 20 points while Jordan Jensen-Whyte collected the games only double-double putting up 12 points to go along with 10 boards.
Whereas last night UBC got off to a hot start, it was Mount Royal’s turn on Saturday as MRU jumped out to a quick five point lead two minutes into the game thanks to Awet Abraha who collected seven of the Cougars first nine points. UBC would escape the first quarter down by seven as Mount Royal led 21-15 despite the home team committing seven turnovers in the first.
Jared Cornish highlighted a 10-0 run to start the second quarter as the 6-foot-3 guard put away an emphatic dunk. UBC wouldn’t add to their point total until midway through the quarter as the Thunderbirds failed to convert on its opponent’s turnovers and missed jumpers. Both teams would double their scores in the second half as Mount Royal increased their lead with a 42-30 advantage heading into the break. UBC was down as much as 17 at point but were able to chip away at that lead in what would be a its strongest quarter in the third.
UBC mounted a comeback in the second half thanks to strong play off the bench as the Thunderbirds outscored its opponent by 11 points in the third quarter and cut the deficit to one at 60-59 in favour of the Cougars.
The Thunderbirds would take its first lead of the game a few minutes into the fourth thanks to a pair of layups and a three-pointer. Despite a four-point lead, UBC would relinquish that advantage back to the Cougars and missed a number of key shots late in the quarter that sealed the victory for Mount Royal.
Abraha, with 16 points, and Deng Awak, with 14, led the Cougars in scoring tonight while Awak was also the team’s top rebounder collecting seven to split the weekend series against UBC. With the win, the Cougars improve to 7-7 on the season and sit in a three-way tie for third in the Canada West Pacific Division. UBC sits two points back of that trio in sixth with a record of 6-8.
UBC returns home next weekend for a stint against UNBC who currently sit a spot behind in seventh in the Canada West Pacific Division and are losers of two straight and five of their last seven. Both remaining UBC home stands are against opponents with records below .500, making next weekend’s matchup particularly important on their road to the playoffs.
SOURCE: UBC THUNDERBIRDS
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